Gold Zone Grows At East Asia’s Miwah

VANCOUVER — Two drill rigs continue to return strong results at East Asia Minerals’ (EAS-V) Miwah gold project in Indonesia. A drill program is exploring the edges of a growing gold zone as the company works towards a resource estimate.

The project, in the Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, is a highsulphidation epithermal gold prospect. East Asia has traced the shallow Main Miwah gold zone along 1.2 km east to west; the zone currently maintains an average north-south reach of 300 metres. The western end of the Main zone, which is separated from the rest of the zone by a fault, is known as the Miwah Bluff zone. And just south of Miwah Bluff is the South Miwah Bluff zone.

Stepping north from Miwah Bluff, holes 17, 18, and 19 were drilled from a collar located 150 metres north of the collar for holes 1, 2 and 3, which earlier returned several solid intercepts including 1.71 grams gold per tonne over 158 metres and 2.25 grams gold over 143 metres.

Hole 17 returned 1.36 grams gold over 20.5 metres, starting at 51.5 metres depth. Hole 18, which is still in progress and only reported results for the first 86 metres, cut 3.29 grams gold over 47 metres starting 39 metres downhole. Hole 19, hit 4.08 grams gold over 81 metres starting at 82 metres depth.

The results extend the Miwah Bluff zone north towards a target known as Moon River, which sits within a geophysical anomaly that extends from Miwah Main through Moon River to Sipopok, another prospect 1.5 km to the north. Moon River has produced promising channel sampling results. Drilling in the area north of Miwah Bluff continues.

And the final hole of a program designed to prove the east-west reach of the Main and Bluff zones pulled a significant intercept from the eastern edge of Main Miwah. Hole 16 hit 0.59 gram gold over 109 metres starting at 23 metres. Earlier this year East Asia encountered 1.01 grams gold over 132.9 metres starting at 26.8 metres in hole 15, west of new hole 16 and south of holes 12 and 13, which returned 1.28 grams gold over 183 metres and 1 gram gold over 153.7 metres, respectively.

The Miwah zones remain open in all directions.

Recent results also reinforce the company’s model of the mineralization at Miwah as comprising two components: a thick, near-surface tabular zone that is cut through by a series of vertical diatreme breccia feeder zones.

With drilling for the Main Miwah zone well underway, East Asia expects to start the drill program for South Miwah Bluff in the second quarter. Mapping results have led the company to believe the South Bluff is open to expansion.

A previous explorer partially defined the Miwah prospect with some 3,100 metres of drilling in 1997.

All 12 holes intersected significant alteration and mineralization, but unrest in Indonesia and the post-Bre-X collapse in gold prices precipitated the company’s withdrawal, even though it figured the project held potential for 100 million tonnes of mineralization grading better than 1 gram gold.

In reviewing the historical data, East Asia realized earlier drilling was parallel to the higher-grade breccia feeder zones traceable at surface. As such, and supported by the drill results to date, the company expects the pending resource estimate for Miwah Main to carry a gold grade considerably better than 1 gram.

The company owns 85% of the Miwah project, as well as five other properties in Indonesia with ownership ranging from 70-85%. While Miwah is very much the current focus of East Asia, the company continues preliminary work on some of its other Indonesian properties.

Work at its 80%-owned Barisan 1 & 2 properties revolves around preparing the Lower Tengkereng and Bahu porphyry gold-copper project for drilling in the second quarter of 2010.

East Asia’s share price has been trading in the $3-$4 range recently. The company’s 52-week share price range is 37¢-$4.82 and it has 71 million shares outstanding.